Anyone still running Windows 7?

I'm picking up a new laptop soon—a Toshiba Satellite C850-1GQ. Should I go with Windows XP or just stick with Windows 7?
If Windows 7 is the better move, which version should I grab—an original license or just a copy?

Forget about XP—it’s just plain ancient at this point. Honestly, you should just go ahead and install Windows 7 Home Premium.

So, is it free?

Thomas Wright said:So, is this actually free?

No, it isn't.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4

How much does it cost
Is there any way to get Windows 7 for free?

Thomas Wright said:How much does it cost
Which version of Windows 7 is free

Just type it into Google.
Windows 7 price

Thomas Wright said:How much does it cost
Which version of Windows 7 is free

Give me a break$267. There's no such thing as free Windows
.

You could also download the trial version, which includes a 120-day extension for the plugins, allowing you to test everything thoroughly and see if it meets your needs...

I’ve got a question. I didn't want to start a whole new thread, so hopefully I can just drop it here...

Basically, I'm curious about how Windows backup actually works...

So, let's say I install Windows 7, run all the updates, get my antivirus and drivers set up, and then I make a backup.

After that, I go ahead and install whatever programs or games I want.
Then, after a while, my PC gets cluttered with junk, starts lagging, and I decide to wipe everything. Instead of a full reinstall, I just restore that backup. My big question is: does it actually roll the system back to the exact state it was in when I made the backup? Will my PC be clean again—just the fresh OS, updates, drivers, and antivirus—without any of the extra stuff I installed afterward?

And if that's how it works, what happens if I get hit by a virus or several viruses? If that backup is sitting right there on my HDD and I trigger it to reset everything to the beginning, will the virus still be hanging around on my machine?

I hope you guys see where I'm going with this. If anyone actually understands what I'm asking, please let me know... thanks.

My bad if I’m posting this in the wrong section 😁 yesterday, I noticed this little icon pop up in the bottom right corner—it was a red circle with a white X labeled OAC—and it started throwing two messages at me. One was just noise, but the other one actually matters because it’s about Security... it says my antivirus (Norton) has been disabled. So, I click "turn on now," it asks me "do you want to run this program," I hit yes, and... nothing. Absolutely nothing happens. But then, when I manually launch Norton myself, it shows everything is active and running perfectly fine 🤷😕 what the hell is going on here?!

Frank Morgan30 said:I have a quick question—I didn't want to start a whole new thread just for this, so I'm hoping it's okay to ask here...

Basically, I was wondering about something regarding Windows backup...

Exactly, just like you mentioned earlier.

crimsoneagle50 said:My apologies if this question ended up in the wrong subforum—just wanted to make sure I was asking in the right place! 😁 So, yesterday I noticed this little icon popped up in my system tray—it’s that red circle with a white X, specifically the OAC one—and it started throwing two notifications at me. One was pretty much nothing, but the other one actually caught my attention since it was a Security alert. It claimed my antivirus—Norton—had been disabled. When I tried clicking "turn on now," a prompt popped up asking if I wanted to run the program. I clicked yes, but... nothing happened. Just total silence from the software. Interestingly enough, when I manually went ahead and launched Norton myself, it showed everything was active and running perfectly fine. Has anyone else dealt with this kind of weird loop before? 🤷😕 Wait, what exactly is going on here?

It looks like Windows just isn't recognizing that Norton is actually running—which is why you're seeing that warning pop up. Have you tried giving the computer a quick restart yet? Sometimes a simple reboot is all it takes to get everything back to normal.

driftingbadger17 I tried restarting everything, shut the antivirus down and fired it back up, but still nothing... my Windows isn't some pirated mess and neither is my Norton

Honestly, the easiest fix might just be reinstalling Norton—it really only takes about two or three minutes. Or, if you'd rather skip that, you could just click the little flag icon down by the clock, open up the Action Center, and then hit "change action center settings" on the left side. From there, just uncheck the box next to virus protection and hit OK. That should do the trick, and the flag icon shouldn't keep flashing warnings at you anymore.

So, I’ve got XP and Windows 8 sitting on this machine right now, but honestly? I’m ready to just ditch both of them... XP is a total headache because I can't find any drivers—lost all my old CDs somewhere along the way—and Windows 8 is definitely not built for this hardware. I figured I'd just wipe everything and install Windows 7 instead, but as soon as I tried to kick off the setup, I hit this wall:
No device drivers were found. Make sure that the installation media contains the correct drivers. 😕

Larry Ortiz5 said:Honestly, just reinstalling Norton is your best bet. It takes maybe two or three minutes tops. Or, if you don't feel like doing that, just click that little flag icon down by the clock, open up the Action Center, and hit "change action center settings" on the left. From there, just uncheck the box for virus protection and hit OK. That should do it... the flag won't keep nagging you with alerts anymore.

Thanks Benjamin King2 😘 I'll give that other trick a shot once I get home. Reinstalling isn't really an option for me though, since this Norton was set up three years ago by some IT guy at a firm in a different city... I don't have any of the license keys or anything like that 😁!

Zachary Carter53 said:I currently have both XP and Windows 8 installed, but I’m looking to get rid of them both—I can't find any drivers for XP since I lost the CDs, and honestly, Windows 8 just isn't running well on this machine. So, I tried to install Windows 7, but right when I went to start the process, I got this error:
No device drivers were found. Make sure that the installation media contains the correct drivers, could then click ok. 😕

First off, how exactly were you trying to run the installer? Did you pop in the Windows 7 disc, reboot the computer, and then tell it to boot from the CD to kick things off? Also, did you make sure to set the CD drive as the primary boot device in your BIOS and save those settings? A little more detail would help. Usually, if you boot from a disc, you should have the option to wipe all your existing partitions and create new ones—which sounds like exactly what you want to do to clear out XP and Windows 8 once and for all.

crimsoneagle50 said:Thanks Larry Ortiz5. 😘 I'll give that other option a shot once I get home—reinstalling isn't really an option right now since Norton was set up three years ago at a company in a different city, so I don't have any of the necessary info if I end up needing a product key or anything like that 😁!

Whatever works for you! Personally, I'm perfectly happy running Avast Free alongside Malwarebytes—the free version works wonders. Regarding that Norton you're using... is it actually a paid version? It's a little strange how it's still running after three years without prompting you to renew or upgrade, isn't it? If it's a cracked version, well, that's one thing, but if it's just a free version, then you've got nothing to worry about. You won't need any keys; just uninstall it, head over to their official site, grab the free version of Norton, and you're all set.

Larry Ortiz5 said:First off, how exactly did you try to install Windows? Did you pop the Windows 7 disc in, reboot the machine, and then actually set it to boot from the drive? Did you go into the BIOS, set the optical drive as the primary boot device, and save those settings? I need more details here... Because if you’re booting from a disc, you should have the option to wipe all your existing partitions and just start fresh with whatever layout you want—which means getting rid of XP and Windows 8 entirely, which sounds like what you're aiming for anyway.

So, I booted from the disc and restarted the PC, but about five minutes into the installation, that error message just popped up out of nowhere. It totally blocked me from being able to format any of the drives. Honestly, I was trying to keep both 8 and XP intact because I really wanted to see if Windows 7 would even function properly this time... I had some major issues trying to get it running a couple of years back—well, I wasn't the one who actually did the install back then, but I remember it was a mess.

Zachary Carter53 said:No device drivers were found. You should probably double-check that the installation media actually has the right drivers on there, then just hit ok. 😕

Honestly, it sounds like you've got a bad or corrupted DVD on your hands. Just grab a new one and see if that fixes it.